Critical mass: vintage reviews: a look at the dance world through seventy years of Dance Magazine reviews.Dance Magazine has published reviews almost since its inception in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. seventy years ago. The legacy of Diaghilev and Duncan merges seamlessly into the future envisioned by such revolutionaries as Graham, Balanchine, and Cunningham in the following years. Here are excerpts of critical opinion gleaned from throughout Dance Magazine's history. Original spelling and punctuation have been left intact. Dance Magazine started out as The American Dancer. Its first issue in June 1927 dict not include reviews as such. But it did contain a critical article by dancer Serge Oukrainsky that set forth guidelines for reviews taken from a high -- a very high -- authority. JUNE 1927 THE DANCE: WHAT IT IS, WAS, AND SHOULD BE BY SERGE OUKRAINSKY The Holy Scripture says: "In the beginning was the word, and the word was God." When the divine breath divine breath (di·vīnˑ brethˑ), n in Native American Medicine, the manifestation of the divine spirit in all living beings. animated Adam, the first movement of the first man was the first dance pose.... In 1933 the editorial offices moved from Los Angeles to New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. , "which is, after all, the artistic hub of the Western hemisphere Western Hemisphere Part of Earth comprising North and South America and the surrounding waters. Longitudes 20° W and 160° E are often considered its boundaries. ." The magazine had a new editor, Paul R. Milton, and a house critic, Joseph Arnold Joseph Arnold (28 December 1782 – 26 July 1818 in Padang, Sumatra, Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia) ) was a naval surgeon and naturalist. His specimen collection is in the museum of the Linnean Society. . Some popular dancers had already been appearing for a number of years. JUNE 1933 RUTH ST. DENIS, MANSFIELD THEATRE, APRIL April: see month. 23-30 BY JOSEPH ARNOLD Miss St. Denis presented her familiar dances of East India and the Far East, assisted by pupils from the Denishawn School. The opening number at the first concert was The Purdah purdah Seclusion of women from public observation by means of concealing clothing (including the veil) and walled enclosures as well as screens and curtains within the home. , which she danced originally at the Hudson Theatre The Hudson Theater is a no longer active Broadway theater located at 141 W. 44th St., New York, NY History The theater was built by architects J.B. McElfatrick, Israels & Harder in 1912. The theater was built by theraticral producer Henry B. in 1906. Twenty-seven years ago! An amazing span for a dancer who is today still an incomparable artist.... Interest in multicultural dance is not new. NOVEMBER 1933 UDAY SHAN-KAR, CARNEGIE HALL Carnegie Hall Concert hall in New York, N.Y., U.S. It was endowed by the industrialist Andrew Carnegie at the insistence of the conductor Walter Damrosch (1862–1950). , OCTOBER 21 BY JOSEPH ARNOLD Shan-Kar's dancing is by now well-known in this country. He opened the present dancing season with three concerts in Carnegie Hall and drew the usual enthusiastic audiences. Some critics made a point of commenting on new dances Shan-Kar presented, designating them good or bad. An Occidental commentator of the Hindu dance must be astonishingly a·ston·ish tr.v. as·ton·ished, as·ton·ish·ing, as·ton·ish·es To fill with sudden wonder or amazement. See Synonyms at surprise. learned in Oriental lore to understand whether one of Shan-Kar's dances is better than another. Hindu dancing, like so much other dancing of primitive derivation, is a dance of signs and symbols, and is generally incomprehensible to the Occidental spectator.... Martha Graham was ever-present on the concert stage. In this review Arnold wondered why she was so prominent; he later come to appreciate her greatness. JANUARY 1934 MARTHA GRAHAM, GUILD THEATRE, NOVEMBER 19 BY JOSEPH ARNOLD Whatever may be the ultimate judgment on Martha Graham's dancing, historians will be obliged to state that in the year 1933, as in the years 1932 and 1931, this Martha Graham was the leading dancer in America.... And who is this Martha Graham that has made herself such an idol? A very homely girl, a face like a death's head, white and bony. The body hard to define beneath her costumes, but giving no suggestion of attractiveness. In her art she radiates none of the emotional or sexual warmth associated with all the great dancers heretofore, even Mary Wigman Mary Wigman (1886-1973), born Karoline Sophie Marie Wiegmann, was a German dancer, choreographer, and instructor of dance. Credited for innovation of expressionist dance, and pioneer of modern dance in Germany. .... Miss Graham is always the priestess and the stage is a temple. She dances as though in subjugation Subjugation Cushan-rishathaim Aram king to whom God sold Israelites. [O.T.: Judges 3:8] Gibeonites consigned to servitude in retribution for trickery. [O.T.: Joshua 9:22–27] Ham Noah curses him and progeny to servitude. [O. to a deity.... The May 1936 issue included the first review The American Dancer ran from abroad -- an unsigned review of La Meri in London. In the same issue Dorathi Bock Noun 1. bock - a very strong lager traditionally brewed in the fall and aged through the winter for consumption in the spring bock beer lager beer, lager - a general term for beer made with bottom fermenting yeast (usually by decoction mashing); originally Pierre reviewed Lester Horton Lester Horton (January 23, 1906 - November 2, 1953) was an American dancer, choreographer, and teacher. Lester Horton was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. Choosing to work in California (three thousand miles away from the center of modern dance - New York City), Horton , one of the pioneers of dance in California In Sacramento County:
MAY 1936 HORTON DANCE GROUP, FIGUEROA PLAYHOUSE, LA., MARCH 21. UNDER AUSPICES OF THE NEW DANCE LEAGUE BY DORATHI BOCK PIERRE ...It is remarkable and a very heartening heart·en tr.v. heart·ened, heart·en·ing, heart·ens To give strength, courage, or hope to; encourage. See Synonyms at encourage. Adj. 1. thing to see how Mr. Horton and his group have improved since their last concert. The numbers he repeated have all been immeasurably improved, in formation, technique, and conception. True, he is using his dances as propaganda, but they are now good dances in themselves.... Bella Lewitzky Bella Lewitzky (January 13, 1916 in Los Angeles, California - July 16, 2004 in Pasadena, California) was a modern dance choreographer and noted teacher. Born to Russian immigrants, Lewitzky spent her childhood in a utopian socialist colony in the Mojave Desert, and on a , who had been in the first concert in secondary parts, projected herself in this performance and shows promise of becoming a really fine dancer of the modern school.... Dance Magazine was founded under that title with Paul Milton as editor and Arnold (whose byline had changed to Joseph Arnold Kaye) as critic. Martha Graham was pictured on the cover of the issue dated v. 1, no. 1, October 1936, which included a review of one of Doris Humphrey's greatest works. OCTOBER 1936 BENNINGTON FESTIVAL SERIES. DORIS HUMPHREY Doris Batcheller Humphrey (October 17, 1895 - December 29, 1958) was a dancer of the early twentieth century. She was born in Oak Park, Illinois but grew up in Chicago, Illinois; she was a descendant of Pilgrim William Brewster and Simon James Humphrey. AND CHARLES WEIDMAN Charles Edward Weidman, Jr. (1901 in Lincoln, Nebraska-1975) was a modern dancer, choreographer and teacher. He studied and performed with Denishawn before leaving to form the Humphrey-Weidman school and company with Doris Humphrey and Pauline Lawrence. WITH THEIR CONCERT GROUPS AND STUDENTS OF THE WORKSHOP, VERMONT STATE ARMORY, BENNINGTON, VERMONT
Bennington is a town located in Bennington County, Vermont, USA. It is one of two shire towns of the county, the other being Manchester. , AUGUST 13-15 BY JOSEPH ARNOLD KAYE ...Miss Humphrey intends With My Red Fires to be the third section of the trilogy "on the theme of the relationship of man to man". The first two sections are Theatre Piece and New Dance, seen frequently last season and repeated at Bennington. The first part of the new work can only be described as the finest choral composition that the modern dance has produced. If that is a statement startling star·tle v. star·tled, star·tling, star·tles v.tr. 1. To cause to make a quick involuntary movement or start. 2. To alarm, frighten, or surprise suddenly. See Synonyms at frighten. in its vastness it is nevertheless true. Never has there been such a translation of the joy of life, into terms of bodily movement.... But having said this the writer wishes he had the proper verbal bridge to carry him from this height of enthusiasm to the description of a sorrowful sor·row·ful adj. Affected with, marked by, causing, or expressing sorrow. See Synonyms at sad. sor  row·ful·ly adv. anti-climax. Part II, titled Drama, produced Miss Humphrey enacting a very melodramatic villainess, largely through pantomime. As acting it was of a third-rate stock-company variety.... Popular entertainment was not ignored by the new publication. The reviews columns were divided into sections for concerts, books, film, theater, variety -- and radio! The following review is reprinted in its entirety. NOVEMBER 1936 SWING TIME. RKO-RADIO PICTURE STARRING FRED ASTAIRE, GINGER ROGERS. DANCES BY HERMES PAN Hermes Pan may refer to:
Astaire and Rogers are the picture; everything else seems to have been put in to fill the time between swings. Dance routines are fresh and interesting, dancing is superb. When Hollywood will learn to make a dance picture as good as the dancing, we cannot even guess. For, as a film, Swing Time is inferior to Follow the Fleet. Ann Barzel, a senior editor who still writes for the magazine, began contributing reviews from Chicago. FEBRUARY 1937 CHICAGO RUTH PAGE BALLET, WITH CHICAGO CIVIC OPERA COMPANY BY ANN BARZEL Ruth Page and her ballet have been having some more or less unorthodox moments with the Chicago Civic Opera this season. There was Carmen Carmen throws over lover for another. [Fr. Lit.: Carmen; Fr. Opera: Bizet, Carmen, Westerman, 189–190] See : Faithlessness Carmen the cards repeatedly spell her death. [Fr. , in which even the chorus disapproved of the costumes, and Lakme, wherein Vera Mirova was drafted as guest artist.... Miss Page's first complete ballet this year was American in Paris to the Gershwin score. Nicholas Remisoff designed the decor. Mr. Stone dances the role Paul Draper This article is about the musician. For the philosopher, see Paul Draper (philosopher). Paul Edward Draper (born 26 September, 1970 in Wavertree, Liverpool) is an English singer-songwriter and was the lead singer for the rock band Mansun. rehearsed last summer and his vaudeville experience stands him in good stead. The thing is dated; but perhaps Miss Page will make up for this lack of the contemporary in her next ballet, An American Woman, choreographed by Gluck Sandor and said to have more than a touch of the new social consciousness. African American African American Multiculture A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. See Race. artists produced a steady stream of work. Kaye offered some careful insight into cultural borrowing. MARCH 1940 DANCE IN REVIEW KATHERINE DUNHAM Katherine Mary Dunham (22 June 1909 – 21 May 2006) was a mixed race dancer, choreographer, songwriter, author, educator and activist who was trained as an anthropologist. Her father was an African-American Business man, and her mother a woman of mixed race, i.e. & DANCE GROUP, WINDSOR THEATRE, N. Y., FEB. 18. BY JOSEPH ARNOLD KAYE Miss Dunham, a Negro, flared into unsuspecting New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of like a comet. Unknown before her debut, she is today one of the most talked-of dancers, and one for whom a happy box-office future can be predicted.... This dancer's virtues are a genius for theatre dance choreography, a keen understanding of the uses to which her ethnographic material can be put, and an excellent technique.... Her entire group was excellent, particularly Archie Savage, who is a find. Talley Beatty has unusual athletic qualities, and a lightness of style reminiscent of ballet.... Some admirers of Miss Dunham have gone into raptures because they say she has remained loyal to her race and does not try to imitate the white man, as other Negro dancers have. The fact is, very few Negro dancers have gone out of their element. If any one class has remained loyal to its heritage it is the Negro dancer. Rather it is the white man who has copied the Negro. Most editors strive to avoid conflicts of interest when assigning reviews. But not the one who asked Lincoln Kirstein Lincoln Edward Kirstein (May 4, 1907 - January 5, 1996) was an American writer, impresario, art connoisseur, and cultural figure in New York City, famous less for his own artistic achievement than for his social influence. , who desperately wanted an "American" ballet, to review the Ballet Russe! NOVEMBER 1940 BALLET RUSSE DE MONTE CARLO Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo Ballet company formed in Monte Carlo in 1932. The name derived from Sergey Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, which dissolved after his death in 1929. Under René Blum and Col. W. , 51ST ST. THEATRE, PREMIER OCT OCT ornithine carbamoyltransferase; oxytocin challenge test. OCT ornithine carbamoyl transferase, a liver specific enzyme. OCT Oxytocin stress test, see there . 14. MGT. S. HUROK. BY LINCOLN KIRSTEIN ... The Monte Carlo's stage direction is sloppy in the extreme. The company, except for the soloists, are not careful about their make-up, wigs, shoes or stance. It is not only jealousy or envy that makes the young American dancers who pay for standing-room contemptuous of them. It is because the careless arrogance of the Russian management has a contempt not only for technical perfection, but for the essential creative impulse as well.... Casse Noisette noi·sette n. A small round piece of meat, especially loin or fillet of lamb, veal, or pork. adj. Made or flavored with hazelnuts. [The Nutcracker] was revived by Mme. [Alexandra] Fedorova in a very pretty remembrance of Petipa. The dances themselves were quite charmingly arranged. But if an American company had dared to give the performance the Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (môNtā` kärlō`), town (1982 pop. 13,150), principality of Monaco, on the Mediterranean Sea and the French Riviera. did an its premiere they would have been howled off the boards. Two girls fell. Three headdresses came off. There was such a jockeying for position that the finale was danced partly off stage.... The whole production is characteristic of the irresponsible, lazy, contemptuous direction of this company, backed by American capital. Even the morale of the dancers has suffered from the negligence of unprofessional directors who employ good artists and pervert their intention. The Russian season opened badly and went worse.... Lucille Marsh become editor beginning with the May 1942 issue; the magazine's new management quickly positioned the publication to be relevant to a country at war. The editorial mix was changed, and reviews did not appear regularly again until the middle of 1945. An enthusiastic young dancegoer dance·go·er n. One who attends dance performances. dance go ing adj. , fresh out of college, began by writing features, then quickly took on many of the reviewing assignments. Still a contributor today, Doris Hering is a senior editor of the magazine. JULY 1946 TWO CONCERTS BY DORIS HERING The moderns were well represented on Sunday, May 12th, when Anna Sokolow gave an afternoon program at the 92nd Street "Y" and Merce Cunningham performed in the evening at the Hunter College Playhouse. Seeing both on the same day was a stimulating experience, for they typify opposite poles of approach in the contemporary dance. Anna Sokolow is a realist. She is socially conscious. She is concerned with reaching and moving the greatest possible number of people -- through emotional means. So absorbed does she become in the social and socializing aspects of her art that detail is sometimes neglected for over-all effect; and form is neglected for content.... From this slice of realism it was quite a skip to Merce Cunningham, the escapist. He is not directly concerned with human problems and how to solve them. His dance language is for the initiated few who are as interested in contemplating Mr. Cunningham's navel as he is himself. The effect tends to be over-intellectual and a little precious. But there are compensations in going along with Mr. Cunningham. He is a dancer to the core. There isn't a crude or clumsy bone in his supple body. His phrasing and sense of form approach perfection.... New media were examined to test their suitability to dance. OCTOBER 1946 TELEVISED CONCERT BY DORIS HERING Two generalizations can be made from Dumont Television's first modern dance program on July 31, and both of them are negative. First, television has much (yes, even more than the cinema) to learn about filming dance movement. Second, despite its lofty artistic tenets, Dumont showed no discrimination whatsoever in its choice of talent for the initial experiment.... Reed Severin and Doris Hering began dividing reviewing duties between them. This enabled the magazine to cover a wide variety of work. In an early example of a "feature review," a format still used, Severin covered the extraordinary confluence of two remarkable premieres. JANUARY 1948 THE SEASON IN REVIEW THE BALLET SOCIETY NEW YORK CITY CENTER
NOVEMBER 12 BY REED SEVERIN If the major theme of these comments has perforce per·force adv. By necessity; by force of circumstance. [Middle English par force, from Old French : par, by (from Latin per; see per) + force, force been gloomy -- that the ballet has fallen on evil days -- then let everyone relax, for this month anyway. For on the first program of its second subscription season The Ballet Society presented a work of such extraordinary beauty, strength, imagination, craftsmanship, and deep poetic insight that I was left unreservedly un·re·served adj. 1. Not held back for a particular person: an unreserved seat. 2. Given without reservation; unqualified: unreserved praise. 3. happy and enthusiastic. To Mozart's E-Flat-major (K.364) Synfonie Concertante Con`cer`tan´te n. 1. (Mus.) A concert for two or more principal instruments, with orchestral accompaniment. Also adjectively; as, concertante parts s>. (the tide of the ballet also), George Balanchine has created choreography which I haven't the slightest hesitation in describing as a great and remarkable piece of work, beginning on a high key and progressing from one stunning climax to another.... Just as in the music the themes are played by a violin and viola, so are they given focus in the dance through two girl soloists -- Tanaquil Le Clercq and Maria Tallchief -- the first sunny, high-strung, centrifugal, the second of darker humour, proud and mysterious.... As a whole, then, you see a ballet not coldly intellectual but always profound, modest in its theatricality but always theatrical, intricate in its marvelous construction but delicate in its effects, excitingly musical in its technique but reasonably unbound unbound said of electrolytes, e.g. iron and calcium, and other substances which are circulating in the bloodstream and are not bound to plasma proteins so that they are available immediately for metabolic processes. See also calcium, iron. to the score itself, classic in its style, warm in its emotion, suspenseful in its patterns -- or, to put it simply, a work of art.... JANUARY 1948 BALLET THEATRE NEW YORK CITY CENTER NOVEMBER 19-DECEMBER 17 BY REED SEVERIN Only two weeks after Synfonie Concentrate, Balanchine was again taking bows from the City Center stage, this time for another masterpiece, Theme and Variations, which was premiered by Ballet Theatre during its four-week New York season this fall. One thing that immediately struck my attention was Balanchine's astonishing a·ston·ish tr.v. as·ton·ished, as·ton·ish·ing, as·ton·ish·es To fill with sudden wonder or amazement. See Synonyms at surprise. adaptability to the conditions under which he works. Whereas in Synfonie Concertante he gave his ensemble of School of American Ballet The School of American Ballet is located in New York City, in Lincoln Center. It is considered one of the most prestigious and notable ballet schools in the United States and teaches some of the most talented young dancers in the country. student dancers only such movements and functions as would let them seem to be professionals (without in any way impairing the force of the music or the choreography), in Theme and Variations he has exploited not only Ballet Theatre's larger technical resources but the company's rather flashy, theatrical style plus the possible musical-comedy predilections typical of a good many in their audience.... Working with these tools and a flamboyant musical base taken from Tschaikovsky's "Suite No. 3 for Orchestra," Balanchine has arranged his abstract choreography in such a style as to recapture the spirit of ballet in the time of Petipa -- and much more besides, giving new life to contemporary dance itself. After a group of dances for the two soloists and the girls of the ensemble, he proceeds with a solo for [Igor] Youskevitch, another for [Alicia] Alonso, and then an adagio a·da·gio adv. & adj. Music In a slow tempo, usually considered to be slower than andante but faster than larghetto. Used chiefly as a direction. n. pl. a·da·gios 1. for both, winding up with an exciting finale for the entire corps de ballet corps de bal·let n. The dancers in a ballet troupe who perform as a group. [French : corps, corps + de, of + ballet, ballet. .... And so you feel refreshed and cleansed and buoyed up, in slightly the same way a brisk, exciting set of tennis might affect you afterwards. You have, moreover, seen dancers who for once look happy and intelligent, bold, free and open in their movements, people who are adult and unneurotic enjoying themselves because they are doing what they love to do and what comes most naturally to them.... Not everyone is interested in inventing the future. JANUARY 1951 GRAND BALLET DU MARQUIS DE CUEVAS OCTOBER 30-NOVEMBER 25, 1950 CENTURY THEATRE BY DORIS HERING The Marquis de Cuevas, whose Grand Ballet spent four weeks (beginning October 30) at the Century Theatre, has been called the "Diaghilev of 1950." Nothing could be less true. For Diaghilev rescued the Russian ballet from a slough of sterile vehicles for self-centered virtuosi. The Marquis has done much to draw the ballet back to that decadent level.... The magazine continued to grow. Lydia Joel, who had worked here for a number of years, become editor in 1952. It may seem hard now to recall a time before The Nutcracker dominated winter stages. But all traditions have to begin somewhere. This one included a student dancer who would appear in these pages again many times. APRIL 1954 NEW YORK CITY BALLET New York City Ballet, one of the foremost American dance companies of the 20th cent. It was founded by Lincoln Kirstein and George Balanchine as the Ballet Society in 1946. SEASON ENDING MARCH 21, 1954 NEW YORK CITY CENTER BY DORIS HERING . . . The premieres were widely divergent. They ranged from Balanchine's grand guignol Opus 3,4 (reviewed in the March issue) to his expansive two-act version of The Nutcracker and to Jerome Robbins' unpretentious Quartet. Because the works were so different in content, they became a fascinating test of the basic style of this fine company. It is a theatre approach in which the emotional identity of the individual is usually placed secondary to his dancing self.... It is interesting to see this lack of strong emotional overtone overtone In acoustics, a faint higher tone contained within almost any musical tone. A body producing a musical pitch—such as a taut string or a column of air within the tubular body of a wind instrument—vibrates not only as a unit but simultaneously also in at work in the season's major premiere, The Nutcracker. Despite the complexity of the scenario and of Horace Armistead's scenery and Karinska's costumes, the work had an unhurried simplicity of dancing surface. In contrast, for example, with the Sadler's Wells's Sleeping Beauty Sleeping Beauty sleeps for 100 years. [Fr. Fairy Tale, The Sleeping Beauty] See : Enchantment Sleeping Beauty enchanted heroine awakened from century of slumber by prince’s kiss. , Balanchine's version of The Nutcracker was casual and did not dig into the highly symbolic literary content. The story was merely a scaffolding for the dance designs and for Balanchine's own orderly vision of the world of childhood.... Of the two little boys (Rusty Nickel and Eliot Feld) who performed the Nutcracker, we preferred the latter.... Some of Graham's alumni were turning out to be downright radical. Epic would turn out to be one of Paul Taylor's most notorious works. DECEMBER 1957 SEVEN NEW DANCES BY PAUL TAYLOR 92ND STREET "Y" OCTOBER 20, 1957 BY DORIS HERING Watching Paul Taylor's Seven New Dances, we were reminded of a review of Francoise Sagan's latest novel. The reviewer, Francis Keene, maintained that the book reflected the hopelessness of the post-war generation.... This could be said of Paul Taylor. His concert was a withdrawal -- an excursion into non-dance -- an effort to find the "still point" in his approach to movement. The effort was courageous and sincere. But it contained a misapprehension mis·ap·pre·hend tr.v. mis·ap·pre·hend·ed, mis·ap·pre·hend·ing, mis·ap·pre·hends To apprehend incorrectly; misunderstand. mis·ap . For stillness con be realized only if it is contrasted with movement.... Mr. Taylor achieved his goal most fully in Events II, a duet for Donya Feuer and Cynthia Stone. . . . Also effective was Events I in which Toby Armour sat pensively pen·sive adj. 1. Deeply, often wistfully or dreamily thoughtful. 2. Suggestive or expressive of melancholy thoughtfulness. downstage down·stage adv. Toward, at, or on the front part of a stage. adj. Of or relating to the front part of a stage. n. The front half of a stage. Noun 1. , slowly changed her position to lie down, then sat alertly listening to a moaning like wind in a revolving door. In the background two girls ran swiftly by. But Mr. Taylor's quest became excessively nihilistic ni·hil·ism n. 1. Philosophy a. An extreme form of skepticism that denies all existence. b. A doctrine holding that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated. 2. in Duet and in Epic. Duet found Mr. Taylor standing still and Toby Glanternick sitting still. And that was all, except for an occasional piano-plunk by David Tudor following a non-score by John Cage.... In Epic, Mr. Taylor made a slow, deliberate progress across stage while the voice of a telephone operator droned the time, second by second.... The distinguished cultural historian Walter Sorell began contributing reviews to the magazine. He covered a wide variety of work. JULY 1958 PEARL LANG AND COMPANY SOPHIE MASLOW AND COMPANY 92ND STREET "Y" MAY 18, 1958 BY WALTER SORELL Pearl Lang is an extraordinary dancer whose sense of drama complements her lyrical quality. Her projection is of captivating cap·ti·vate tr.v. cap·ti·vat·ed, cap·ti·vat·ing, cap·ti·vates 1. To attract and hold by charm, beauty, or excellence. See Synonyms at charm. 2. Archaic To capture. immediacy. She knows how to create an atmosphere of urgency about her as a performer as well as a choreographer. Miss Lang's new piece, Nightflight (Anton Webern), is a strongly symbolic dance and poetically suggestive in its various phrases. It tells of life's complexities in a boy's growing years into manhood, of its dubious visitations and treacherous temptations before he finds his way into the light of fulfillment, may it be love or self-awareness, or both. This "traveller" into life was danced with great accomplishment Bruce Marks.... On the same program was Sophie Maslow's Americana Raincheck. In it Ethel Winter proved again that she is an endearing and versatile dancer, and Beatrice Seckler made one wish she could be seen more often.... The first U.S. tour of Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet was a sensation. The effect of its powerful dancing -- on Western audiences and performers alike -- cannot be overestimated. JUNE 1959 FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE BOLSHOI BALLET METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE APRIL 16-MAY 9, 1959 BY DORIS HERING Had the choice been ours, we'd have read nothing in advance about the Bolshoi Ballet.... And rather than attending performances night after night, we'd have seen one work each week over the number of weeks it would have taken to cover -- and fully savor -- the repertoire of four full-length ballets and two variety programs they brought to this country. As it was, we often felt as though we were being buffeted upon an unruly and capricious sea.... Sometimes there was not enough opportunity between one performance and the next to distinguish between the artistically mediocre and the merely unfamiliar. Sometimes it was tedious to yield oneself to the leisureliness of productions like Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet star-crossed lovers die as teenagers. [Br. Lit.: Romeo and Juliet] See : Death, Premature Romeo and Juliet archetypal star-crossed lovers. [Br. Lit. and The Stone Flower. Sometimes, as in Giselle, that sense of structural leisure was rewarding.... Although realism is their artistic by-word, the Russians seemed to us to be fundamentally romantic in point of view. They favor the idealized i·de·al·ize v. i·de·al·ized, i·de·al·iz·ing, i·de·al·iz·es v.tr. 1. To regard as ideal. 2. To make or envision as ideal. v.intr. 1. , the concentration upon extremes of good and bad, joyous and sad, with little in the way of intermediary shading.... Curiously, their leading dancer, Galina Ulanova, does not really adhere to the general point of view. Like Alicia Markova, she has earned the right to bring her own portrayal to a production, even if her style is not exactly in keeping with the over-all tone. Ulanova dares to understate un·der·state v. un·der·stat·ed, un·der·stat·ing, un·der·states v.tr. 1. To state with less completeness or truth than seems warranted by the facts. 2. . And more important, she dares to mingle light and shadow.... The only other artist in the Bolshoi Ballet who shows signs of approaching Ulanova's almost spiritual dimension is Nicolai Fadeyechev. As the Prince in Swan Lake and as Albrecht in Giselle, he, too, had the slight echo of melancholy even in his most unfettered moments. And he seems to have found the just balance between elan and repose.... In her third year of reviewing for the magazine, historian Selma Jeanne Cohen Selma Jeanne Cohen (September 18 1920 – December 23 2005) was a dance historian, editor, and teacher who devoted her career to advocating dance as an art worthy of the same scholarly respect traditionally awarded to painting, music, and literature. considered a novel work by Alvin Ailey that would become a contemporary classic. MARCH 1960 ALVIN AILEY DANCE THEATRE 92ND STREET "Y" JANUARY 31, 1960 BY SELMA JEANNE COHEN ... The other new work on the program was Revelation[s], a suite of Negro spirituals. There were some striking individual sections here. The opening "songs of trouble" contained exciting stage designs, suddenly broken by huge surges of movement and resolved into mourning masses of stillness. The baptismal scenes were filled with fervor and deft characterizations. The company danced them all with a wonderful muscular awareness of their emotional import. But the suite was much too long for sustained effectiveness and became at times an almost literal reiteration of the musical phrase.... Dancers -- and dance audiences -- were changing as the new decade began. The beat culture was still novel. APRIL 1961 AILEEN PASSLOFF AND DANCE COMPANY FASHION INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY FEBRUARY 5, 1961 BY DORIS HERING Girls with shredded hair and bitten fingernails ... men with beards or their shadows ... a furry-faced figure in a cape, another in a velvet suit ... musty sweaters and tangled mufflers ... and suddenly a row, carefully sticking together, of minks, styled coiffures, sequin se·quin n. 1. A small shiny ornamental disk, often sewn on cloth; a spangle. 2. A gold coin of the Venetian Republic. Also called zecchino. tr.v. calots. This was the audience assembling for Aileen Passloff's concert. The curtain went up, and suddenly the audience was transferred to the stage in a dance called Cypher See cipher. . Here the figures were all in black, cleverly varied in line by designer James Waring.... And the dancers, sometimes in twos, sometimes alone, created an image of brooding futility.... It was a polished and poetic depiction of the empty people in the audience.... Again one felt, as in her concert of last year, that if Miss Passloff can work her way through the beat trap, she will be a choreographer of stature. She is a fine dancer. She has imagination. And there is an incipient sense of form in her works. Alwin Nikolais showed astonishing foresight in his use of multimedia. APRIL 1964 ALWIN NIKOLAIS HENRY STREET PLAYHOUSE FEBRUARY 20, 1964 There are echoes and memories which all of us share. Sometimes we do not even know that they exist. And yet, when we meet them, we know they belong to us. Such was our realization during certain sections of Alwin Nikolais' evening-long Sanctum. The stage opened red and menacing. A silhouetted figure (Murray Louis), hanging by one knee from a trapeze, whirled above a tangle of bodies on the ground.... When the lights came up, the figure appeared curiously defenseless. He was lowered into the scudding scud intr.v. scud·ded, scud·ding, scuds 1. To run or skim along swiftly and easily: dark clouds scudding by. 2. mass and disappeared. Who was he? Perhaps all of us. Where did he go? Who knows! ... More writers were added to the reviewing staff in these years, bringing a variety of voices to the magazine. The opening of Lincoln Center on Manhattan's West Side began a transformation of that neighborhood (and, some would odd, the city's arts) that continues to this clay. The distinguished Edwin Denby considered its effect on NYCB NYCB New York City Ballet NYCB New York Community Bank . JUNE 1964 NEW YORK CITY BALLET, NEW YORK STATE THEATRE, LINCOLN CENTER . . . During the first two weeks at the New York State ... the company added two pieces to its repertory, Balanchine's Clarinade and a revival of Tudor's 1943 Dim Lustre lustre In mineralogy, the appearance of a mineral surface in terms of its light-reflecting qualities. Lustre depends on a mineral's refractivity (see refraction), transparency, and structure. . it also presented Midsummer Night's Dream, and twenty-six other ballets, most of them respaced for the much larger stage. The house has always been full, and has become more and more lively. The company started well, and hit its stride in a week. Now the dancers are dancing their heads off. I wouldn't have thought it possible, but with more space to cover to the same musical phrase they have stepped up their speed and sweep of style.... Some fans will remember how, ten years ago, they used to applaud demonstratively de·mon·stra·tive adj. 1. Serving to manifest or prove. 2. Involving or characterized by demonstration. 3. Given to or marked by the open expression of emotion: after Four Temperaments to save it from being taken out of repertory. It has always been a key piece by which to judge the company. On the new stage it is gloriously danced by everyone, each and all. A particular delight at one performance was seeing [Maria] Tallchief dancing at top speed with marvelous musical details of phrasing. [Jacques] D'Amboise too was at his grandest.... It is a pleasure that [Suzanne] Farrell, [Gloria] Govrin, [Patricia] McBride, [Patricia] Neary and [Mimi] Paul, each of them a phenomenal young dancer, are each so strikingly different. Lovely Farrell is at her loveliest in Meditation. You see her yield completely, fainting with a soft abandon in a supported deep back bend, and before you see the recovery, she is already standing apart, mild and free, as if in thought.... The Judson Church, in New York City's Greenwich Village, became the epicenter of creative dance at a time when happenings were groovy groov·y adj. groov·i·er, groov·i·est Slang Very pleasing; wonderful. groov i·ness n. . MAY 1966 TRISHA BROWN AND DEBORAH HAY JUDSON MEMORIAL CHURCH The Judson Memorial Church is located in Greenwich Village of Manhattan on the south side of Washington Square Park. It is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA and with the United Church of Christ. MARCH 29, 1966 It was called A Concert of Dance, but titles tend to be rather meaningless these days. Someone must have taken it seriously, however, for after the first number, Deborah Hay's No. 3, there was an explosive shout of "Hoax!' No. 3 consisted of Deborah Hay running around the hall while three helpers knocked down three stacks of bricks. Trisha TRISHA Tick-Related Illnesses Self-Help Alliance Brown's A String came next. In the first part, "Homemade" she moved just enough to allow a projector strapped to her back to flash pictures of herself around the hall. Some of the shots were quite intriguing. In the second part, "Motor," a motorbike tailed her with its spotlight as she took short runs on a skateboard. For the third part, "Outside," she put on sweatpants and did exercises. Alex Hay and Robert Rouschenberg performed Deborah Hay's Serious Duet. They got themselves entangled en·tan·gle tr.v. en·tan·gled, en·tan·gling, en·tan·gles 1. To twist together or entwine into a confusing mass; snarl. 2. To complicate; confuse. 3. To involve in or as if in a tangle. in long streamers Streamers is a play by David Rabe. The last in his Vietnam War trilogy that began with The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel and Sticks and Bones attached to their belts, dipped water from two pails and poured it back, stretched a rubber hose between them. Then they hid inside a hut-sized cardboard box while Deborah Hay moved slowly across the floor in Rise.... Challenges to conventions -- some theatrical, some social -- were frequent. And not all originated in New York, JUNE 1967 DANCERS' WORKSHOP OF SAN FRANCISCO IN PARADES AND CHANGES HUNTER COLLEGE APRIL 21-22, 1967 But is it dance?" a friend queried after I had described Ann Halprin's Parades and Changes to her. If one thinks of dance exclusively as a rhythmic continuity of movement through space, then Parades and Changes does not qualify. But during this performance that didn't seem to be a very important point. Like Alwin Nikolais, whose approach in some aspects resembles hers, Halprin grew up through one of the pillar traditions of contemporary dance. With Halprin it was Humphrey-Weidman.... The curtain was up as the audience assembled.... The dancers, dressed in trousers and shirts, strode down the aisles and lined up neatly on stage. They had their backs to the audience as various drops and batons began to arrange themselves with smooth formality. The dancers turned to face the audience and began to disrobe. At first it was fun just to see how different they looked without their clothing -- how some became more attractive, others less so. Then one's interest shifted to the cleverly timed device of having some dancers dressing while others were undressing.... All of this was understated, almost ritualistic rit·u·al·is·tic adj. 1. Relating to ritual or ritualism. 2. Advocating or practicing ritual. rit . Endless carpets of brown wrapping paper were stretched across the stage. The dancers, by now all nude, become entangled in the paper.... By degrees all gathered up huge armfuls of the paper and began jumping into the pit.... Thus did anarchy turn into order, or at least a momentary satire on order.... In I970 William Como become editor of the magazine. Doris Hering was made associate editor and principal critic, with a small group of other writers contributing regularly. Within two years of its debut, Dance Theatre of Harlem Dance Theatre of Harlem, the first black classical ballet company. The group was founded in Harlem, New York City, by Arthur Mitchell, then of the New York City Ballet, the first black principal dancer of a classical company of international standing. , founded by New York City Ballet principal Arthur Mitchell with Karel Shook, was playing Broodway. JUNE 1971 DANCE THEATRE OF HARLEM ANTA THEATRE, NYC NYC abbr. New York City NYC New York City MARCH 8, 9,10-1971 It's a good sound, the crackle crackle /crack·le/ (krak´'l) rale. of affectionate applause. Cheering is even better. The Dance Theatre of Harlem received both in its sold out Broadway debut. I don't think the dancers' beads were turned by this vote of confidence. Their director Arthur Mitchell is too wise to let that happen. And besides, he is a man with a far bigger mission than applause getting. He also knows that it will take at least five more years to tell the real story (at present the Dance Theatre of Harlem is a scant two years With its dancers at every conceivable stage of development). Those five years are urgently needed in the course of any artistic endeavor to mold a company with its own style, its own secure dancers, and its own bulwark of choreography. Right now the men reflect Mitchell's own perky perk·y adj. perk·i·er, perk·i·est 1. Having a buoyant or self-confident air; briskly cheerful. 2. Jaunty; sprightly. perk , highly energized manner. Like kids following a father, they obviously adore him to the point of wanting to be exactly like him. As for the women, they seem to be in need of a ballet mistress who can soften their gestures, round their port de bras port de bras n. The technique or practice of positioning and moving the arms in ballet. , lead them away from the idea of strength for its own sake.... Robb Baker covered the Chicago premiere of a landmark combination of ballet and popular culture by Twyla Tharp for Robert Joffrey, whose own rock ballet Astarte premiered in 1967. APRIL 1973 TWYLA THARP'S DEUCE COUPE OR, HOW ALLEY OOP CAME TO DANCE WITH THE JOFFREY well gimme gim·me Informal Contraction of give me. adj. Slang Demanding material things or especially money; acquisitive: today's gimme society; tired of gimme letters. n. the beach boys and free my soul i wanna wan·na Informal 1. Contraction of want to: You wanna go now? 2. Contraction of want a: You wanna slice of pie? get lost in your rock `n' roll and drift away. . . . Twyla Tharp has made a new work for the Joffrey Ballet. Like the above lyrics to a current Top 40 record (written and sung by someone named Dobie Grey), the piece pays homage to the Beach Boys, capturing and capsulizing the pleasant -- perhaps even positive -- sense of escapism es·cap·ism n. The tendency to escape from daily reality or routine by indulging in daydreaming, fantasy, or entertainment. that has always characterized their music, from the group's beginnings back in the late '50s down to the present day. Twyla Tharp? Joffrey Ballet.? The Beach Boys? Strange bedfellows, you might think. is this the same far-out avant-garde Twyla Tharp who used to make dances with a metronome metronome (mĕ`trənōm'), in music, originally pyramid-shaped clockwork mechanism to indicate the exact tempo in which a work is to be performed. It has a double pendulum whose pace can be altered by sliding the upper weight up or down. and (or so it seemed) a slide rule? Who avoided music entirely in many of her works? Who relished working in "non-theatrical spaces" such as museums, art galleries, gymnasiums and the great outdoors)?... Yes. That Twyla Tharp. And the progression to the Joffrey and the Beach Boys is not so abrupt as one might imagine. Twyla's recent pieces have been to similar good-time popular music of another era (the early Jazz Age -- Bix Biederbecke, Scott Joplin, Willie "the lion" Smith William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholoff Smith (23 November, 1893[1] – 18 April, 1973) was an American jazz pianist and one of the masters of the stride style. Smith was born as in Goshen, New York. , Jelly Roll Morton Noun 1. Jelly Roll Morton - United States jazz musician who moved from ragtime to New Orleans jazz (1885-1941) Ferdinand Joseph La Menthe Morton, Morton ), with a little good-time baroque/classical Torelli/Mozart thrown in for good measure.... The key here -- as in most of Twyla's work -- is distance. Deuce Coupe is a piece about Beach Boys music, not simply to it.... The mania for Soviet defectors reached a fever pitch when Mikhail Baryshnikov made his U.S. debut with American Ballet Theatre American Ballet Theatre, one of the foremost international dance companies of the 20th cent. It was founded in 1937 as the Mordkin Ballet and reorganized as the Ballet Theatre in 1940 under the direction of Lucia Chase and Rich Pleasant. . Not since Rudolf Nureyev's defection in 1961 hod the arrival of a foreign dancer made such news. OCTOBER 1974 ABT'S GISELLE JULY 27,1974 BY OLGA MAYNARD . . . Thunder broke in the theater at Baryshnikov's entrance. It rolled in peal after peal of applause throughout the ballet and for twenty-seven minutes after. When Baryshnikov executed diagonal brises voles (flying brises, quatrieme demie position) and twice appeared to be about to fly off the stage, the crowd roared as it does at Madison Square Garden Current arenas in the National Hockey League Western Conference Eastern Conference .... Since his defection in Toronto in July, the Russian danseur had been making headlines in the press -- his fame was such that, as Richard Nixon and his administration were failing, New York cabbies know Baryshnikov's name.... The test of his genius was to come in Giselle, before a knowledgeable audience at [the] State Theater. Baryshnikov's debut was a baptism of fire Baptism of Fire A difficult situation that a company or individual experiences that will result in either success or failure. Examples include Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), a new CEO hired to manage a struggling company, and hostile takeover attempts. .... What thoughts were in Baryshnikov's head (the dark blond hair worn en brosse) as he waited in the wings? The last time he and [Natalia] Makarova had been on the same stage (the Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London, England. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge. , London 1970) had been in another Giselle.... It was the season in which Makarova reached her zenith as Kirov ballerina. At the end of the season, she defected. . . . Had anyone guessed then that, five years later, Makarova and Baryshnikov would be dancing Giselle in a New York theater? One could not be untouched by the pre-science of the fate that had brought them to this place, and the sentiment affected the occasion. it was less of a performance than a rite of initiation for Baryshnikov, to whom "the West" is still more metaphysical than geographical.... Baryshnikov's form is so pure that he might be the exposition of a classroom manual, aloof from the astonished a·ston·ish tr.v. as·ton·ished, as·ton·ish·ing, as·ton·ish·es To fill with sudden wonder or amazement. See Synonyms at surprise. gaze, insensible INSENSIBLE. In the language of pleading, that which is unintelligible is said to be insensible. Steph. Pl. 378. to the raptures of the common throng. His placement is perfect in the most difficult combinations, as when he executes a qrande pirouette (about ten complete revolutions) all from a single preparation. Contrary to the style of most Russian dancers, his preparation is almost undetectable, and this gives his allegro steps a magical quality -- as though they have happened, rather than as though he has performed them. He finishes every combination with precision and sweetness, as though he had not in the least exerted himself, but could continue indefinitely, even to mounting the air.... David Vaughan was one of the astute writers who contributed regularly to these columns when Tobi Tobias was reviews editor. FEBRUARY 1976 WILL SUCCESS SPOIL RUDOLF NUREYEV? BY DAVID VAUGHAN Jimmy Waring and I played a game once: think of companies for Rudolf Nureyev to dance with. One begins to feel that sooner or later he will get around to even our most far-out suggestions; it would be easier for him if he just installed himself permanently in the Uris Theatre, say, and let Hurok Concerts move the various companies in, one after the other. That was where they presented him and Margot Fonteyn, from November 18 to 29, in a program similar to the one they had performed in Washington, D.C., last summer. Fonteyn danced in three out of five numbers, Nureyev in all of them.... Now the dance critic of New York Magazine, Tobi Tobias has long been interested in the Bournonville technique and style, which increasingly fascinated American audiences. AUGUST 1976 BOURNONVILLE AND THE ROYAL DANISH BALLET Royal Danish Ballet, one of the oldest major ballet companies, established at the opening of Denmark's Royal Theater in Copenhagen in 1748. The company was developed over the centuries by three great masters. : NEW YORK'S SEASON, MAY 18-JUNE 5, 1976 BY TOBI TOBIAS ... Bournonville dancing is essentially allegro dancing, allegro with a distinctive lightness and lift, based on a short, springy spring·y adj. spring·i·er, spring·i·est 1. Marked by resilience; elastic. 2. Abounding in freshwater springs. spring plie pli·é n. A ballet movement in which the knees are bent while the back is held straight. [French, from past participle of plier, to fold, bend, from Old French; see pliant.] . It doesn't much explore the possibilities of line and extension, the characteristic beauties of legato dancing, but concentrates on ebullient batterie; traveling jumps that scoop their way through the air -- up and over, Up and over; and fleecy fleec·y adj. fleec·i·er, fleec·i·est Of, resembling, or covered with fleece: fleecy clouds. fleec footwork -- fostering an illusion of the performer's skimming blithely over the ground -- that is soft and precise in absolutely equal measure. The arms are characteristically held still, in a low semi-circle (bras bas), by their very stability and quietness directing the attention to the brilliant articulation of the legs and feet. (You notice this in Scottish dancing: the simple dignity of the arms and torso, set against the intricate beating, brushing footwork.) By contrast, on the bold, often turning, leaps that carry the dancer through space, the arms will flare out in a motion of frank generosity, or rise naturally to crown the head. A deep port de bras involves the whole torso in its fluency, so that the arms are not sketching decorations but behaving as an organic part of the dancer and the dance. You don't see arms that lunge, flail, grab and claw at empty air, or that affectation-around-the-wrists ballet so easily succumbs to because the arms, in Bournonville ballet, aren't being asked to supply the dance's energy or carry its message. The body is given a strong, supple, tranquil center, and the impetus for the dancing comes from there.... What would happen if a guy asked another guy to dance? MAY 1978 BY ROBB BAKER Ever since my wallflower wallflower, Mediterranean perennial (Cheiranthus cheiri) of the family Cruciferae (mustard family), particularly popular in Europe, where it flourishes on old walls. days at the junior high sock hops back in Indiana, I've wondered what would happen if a boy asked another guy to dance. Girls danced with other girls at the sock hops, and nobody ever batted an eye. But the shock effect of two guys dancing to, say, a slow ballad together would have been staggering in that time and place -- as it would have been on the American dance stage in the late Fifties as well. Twenty years TWENTY YEARS. The lapse of twenty years raises a presumption of certain facts, and after such a time, the party against whom the presumption has been raised, will be required to prove a negative to establish his rights. 2. later, in urban contemporary American society, things have loosened up a bit, in both art and life .... Onstage, it's no longer just Ted Shawn showing that male dancers aren't pansies; off-stage, it's no longer danseurs giving interviews about how much weight they can lift and how they've got-a-wife-and-kids-at-home. At last we've come to realize that men (or women) can have as wide a range of relationships among themselves as with the opposite sex. The shadow and subtleties of these relationships are a gold mine of material for the artist, and movement -- dance -- is a medium extremely well suited to chronicling this new message, which is neither "gay" nor "straight," but simply human and extremely complex. San Francisco's contact improvisation group, Mangrove mangrove, large tropical evergreen tree, genus Rhizophora, that grows on muddy tidal flats and along protected ocean shorelines. Mangroves are most abundant in tropical Asia, Africa, and the islands of the SW Pacific. (which performed at Eden's Expressway February 10-11), is an interesting case in point. Contact improvisation is a free-form energy-conserving movement technique based on acrobatics acrobatics Art of jumping, tumbling, and balancing. The art is of ancient origin; acrobats performed leaps, somersaults, and vaults at Egyptian and Greek events. Acrobatic feats were featured in the commedia dell'arte theatre in Europe and in jingxi (“Peking and various Oriental mind-body disciplines; it was originally developed by Steve Paxton at Bennington College and started up on the West Coast at about the same time.... The year before her instant classic, Terpsichore in Sneakers sneakers Noun, pl US, Canad, Austral & NZ canvas shoes with rubber soles sneakers npl (US) → zapatos mpl de lona; zapatillas fpl : Post-modern Dance, was published, Sally Bones took a look at a seminal choreograpber. AUGUST 1978 BY SALLY BANES The James Waring Festival at Judson Memorial Church April 21-30 was a pleasure in many ways. For someone like me, who had heard much about the late choreographer but had never gotten around to seeing his works, it was a concentrated history lesson. Twelve dances in two weekends! Seeing so many of Waring's dances all together was a lesson in choreographic method, too, making me realize how much of the choreography we see now must have been affected by the Waring touch -- either directly or indirectly. So many of the elements we think of as post-Cunningham or Tharpian or ballet burlesque burlesque (bûrlĕsk`) [Ital.,=mockery], form of entertainment differing from comedy or farce in that it achieves its effects through caricature, ridicule, and distortion. It differs from satire in that it is devoid of any ethical element. live in Waring's dances in germinal Germinal conflict of capital vs. labor: miners strike en masse. [Fr. Lit.: Germinal] See : Riot Germinal portrays the sufferings of workers in the French mines. [Fr. Lit. form.... Elizabeth Zimmer, now the dance editor of the Village Voice, saw Mark Morris as a beacon of hope in this review of an early performance at Dance Theater Workshop Dance Theater Workshop is a New York City performance space and service organization for dance companies. Located on West 19th Street in the Chelsea section of Manhattan, DTW was founded in 1965 by Jeff Duncan, Art Bauman and Jack Moore as a choreographers' collective. . MARCH 1983 REVIEWED BY ELIZABETH ZIMMER ... [Mark] Morris's New Love Song Waltzes, to Brahms, kept his fourteen-person ensemble in almost constant, charged-up motion. Coupling and coming apart in the complex manner of Twyla Tharp, they rode the passionate dramatics dra·mat·ics n. (used with a sing. or pl. verb) 1. The art or practice of acting and stagecraft. 2. Dramatic or stagy behavior: Cut the dramatics and get to the point. of the score. These Waltzes included turns for pairs of men and pairs of women, and many slippery reshufflings at a moment's notice. Morris, who has studied and performed ballet as well as contemporary, Spanish, and Balkan dance, is growing into a clever, brave choreographer with a command of humor and a lyrical sensibility. A native of Seattle, he's planning to make the Pacific Northwest his base. Here's hoping New York's dance series finds room for him regularly; he's a bright, eclectic star in an increasingly dim firmament.... As dance continued to gain new audiences, Dance Magazine, with Joan Pikula and Marilyn Hunt as successive review coordinators, continued to track the latest trends. The Quebecois company La La La Human Steps La La La Human Steps is a leading Québécois contemporary dance group known for its energetic, acrobatic style that often involves fast-paced and athletic physical contact. Its signature move is the barrel jump, which is like a horizontal pirouette in the air. had everything the mideighties wanted: high-speed, high-tech violence, all wrapped up in Human Sex. JANUARY 1986 EYE ON PERFORMANCE ... INTERNATIONAL BY LINDE HOWE-BECK MONTREAL -- This city's first Festival International de la Nouvelle Danse (September 19-29) focused a good deal of attention on eight Canadian groups among fourteen world-class companies, allowing visitors and locals alike to see at close range how home-grown dance compares with the foreign variety.... The new dance extravaganza was neatly packaged to show both Canadians and guests to best advantage. It opened with the high-tech energy of La La La Human Steps from Montreal and ended with the marvelous madcap nonsense of Toronto's Desrosiers Dance Theatre. La La La's smash opening at the Spectrum, a pop-music club, pinpointed the exaggerated, almost compulsive use of rough-hewn dynamics and multimedia technology favored by many of the Canadians.... Packaged like a rock video, Human Sex is speedy, slick, and tough, a turbulent vehicle for a rock musician and five dancers including Louise Lecavalier, winner of New York's 1985 Bessie Schonberg Award for outstanding dance performance. In Human Sex, Lecavalier is a mean little animal, a mustachioed mus·ta·chio also mous·ta·chio n. pl. mus·ta·chios A mustache, especially a luxuriant one. [Ultimately from Italian dialectal mustaccio, mustache; see mustache. blonde who launches herself every few seconds into disorienting dis·o·ri·ent tr.v. dis·o·ri·ent·ed, dis·o·ri·ent·ing, dis·o·ri·ents To cause (a person, for example) to experience disorientation. Adj. 1. and dangerous-looking kamikaze kamikaze (kä'məkä`zē) [Jap.,=divine wind], the typhoon that destroyed Kublai Khan's fleet, foiling his invasion of Japan in 1281. flips, crashing into her partner, Marc Beland, and knocking him flat.... The search for new forms led some choreographers in the eighties to shun slick glamour in favor of more fundamental effects. Shades of Yvonne Rainer! FEBRUARY 1988 EYE ON PERFORMANCE ... NATIONAL BY JON BLAKE SEATTLE -- The Seattle metropolitan area The Seattle metropolitan area in Washington, USA includes the city of Seattle, King County, Snohomish County, and Pierce County within the Puget Sound area. The U.S. Census Bureau defines the metropolitan area as the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA has been deep in discussions of "arts stabilization" lately, focusing mainly on maintaining the health of the big three -- symphony, ballet, opera. It was all the more refreshing, therefore, when King County launched an ambitious series of new-arts performances called Performa '87 this past September. On the afternoon of September 19, about 150 people found their way along a serpentine path through waist-and shoulder-high wild grosses in Redmond's Marymoor Park to be part of Seven/Uneven. Billed as "An Outdoor Gymnastic Performance/Site Installation," it perfectly embodied the series' goal of fostering and presenting new, challenging art .... Pat Graney choreographed the movement of the seven gymnasts.... The movements themselves were not restricted to the usual gymnastic tricks. Graney had the performers land heavily on the mats below the bars to emphasize the elemental force of gravity the gymnast toys with. Most of the time the performers used the bars as supports for silhouetted postures. And it was during these times when the performers stood sharply etched against the full open sky, that the event was most striking. Their sudden falls from the upper to lower bar were somehow moving.... In 7989 Richard Philp became editor in chief and Gary Parks, reviews editor. More than seventy correspondents from around the world now contribute to the magazine. It was a long way from the Bolshoi's dazzling American debut in 1959 (see page 26) to the dispiriting dis·pir·it tr.v. dis·pir·it·ed, dis·pir·it·ing, dis·pir·its To lower in or deprive of spirit; dishearten. See Synonyms at discourage. [di(s)- + spirit.] Adj. engagement covered by Lynn Garafola, a contributing editor of the magazine and the author of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. NOVEMBER 1990 REVIEWS -- NEW YORK CITY "BOLSHOI? MEANS "BIG" IN RUSSIAN; "BOLSNOI" MEANS "ILL" BOLSHOI BALLET NEW YORK STATE THEATER The New York State Theater is part of New York City's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts complex. The theater occupies the south side of the main plaza (at Columbus Avenue & 63rd Street) that it shares with the Metropolitan Opera House and Avery Fisher Hall (home of the New JULY 10-22, 1990 REVIEWED BY LYNN GARAFOLA As artistic director and chief choreographer, Yuri Grigorovich has presided over the Bolshoi Ballet since 1964, the same year Leonid Brezhnev came to power. Elsewhere in Soviet society, the "era of stagnation Stagnation A period of little or no growth in the economy. Economic growth of less than 2-3% is considered stagnation. Sometimes used to describe low trading volume or inactive trading in securities. Notes: A good example of stagnation was the U.S. economy in the 1970s. ," as the Brezhnev years are now called, has ended. But at the Bolshoi, under Grigorovich, it continues, impoverishing everything from the repertory and overall esprit de corps esprit de corps Graduate education The degree of happiness of the 'campers' in a place to the style and technique of the individual dancers. Ultimately, the Bolshoi today faces a moral crisis -- a failure of belief in the very art that gave the company its identity and made it a world-class ensemble.... Twenty years of this impoverished, undemanding idiom have left the Bolshoi in a sorry state. Turnout, balance, strength, control, timing, clarity, epaulement -- all have gone. Fifth Position has become an anachronism a·nach·ro·nism n. 1. The representation of someone as existing or something as happening in other than chronological, proper, or historical order. 2. ; pointework an embarrassment. Many of the women can't get fully up on toe or, like ballerina Lyudmila Semenyaka, fall off pointe in mid step. Technique isn't all that's suffered. Energy has dwindled; acting has lost conviction; in the corps, purpose and discipline have slackened.... Only a handful of principals have escaped the prevailing blight. Of the season's ballerinas, Nina Ananiashvili alone had the technique and imaginative power to command the stage.... The Bolshoi didn't care, nor did its primary presenters, the British-based Entertainment Corporation, which charged the highest ticket prices ever for ballet at Lincoln Center ($105 for the best seats) -- and got them by marketing the company to not-for-profit organizations as the perfect gala fund-raiser in an era of Soviet-American rapprochement. For such audiences the Bolshoi may still live up to its gold card reputation. For everyone else, the message of the season was clear. The company has become second-rate, and no one, from Grigorovich down, appears to care, so long as the dollars keep flowing in to underwrite the status quo [Latin, The existing state of things at any given date.] Status quo ante bellum means the state of things before the war. The status quo to be preserved by a preliminary injunction is the last actual, peaceable, uncontested status which preceded the pending controversy. . Who would have thought a "Balanchine ballerina," emblem of le style frigidaire, could rouse The Sleeping Beauty? Joan Acocella, who served as associate editor for criticism from I983 to 1985 (and who is now the dance critic for The Wall Street Journal), took a look at a marked shift in NYCB's repertory. SEPTEMBER 1991 WAKE-UP CALL NEW YORK CITY BALLET NEW YORK STATE THEATER APRIL 24-JUNE 30, 1991 REVIEWED BY JOAN ACOCELLA "Before I die," Balanchine once said, "I would like to present The Sleeping Beauty in a production that would make Petipa proud, though he might not recognize it." Balanchine died before he could get together the money to do this, but his successor, Peter Martins, managed to raise $2.8 million -- of which, reportedly, New York City Ballet benefactor Anne Bass alone gave the better part of $1 million -- and with it has mounted a Sleeping Beauty that is vivid and lively and that Petipa would probably not recognize.... Of the season's five Auroras, Valentina Kozlova was simply not strong enough for the role. Margaret Tracey was fresh, natural, able, and not very interesting. Judith Fugate was best in the somber moments, particularly the vision scene, to which she gave a kind of dark, windblown feeling. But the stars of this show were Darci Kistler and Kyra Nichols. In these two women New York City Ballet has what no other company, worldwide, has at this moment: two truly great ballerinas. Nichols is the stronger technically, but technical mastery is merely the base on which she builds her art. That art lies in the subtlety of her phrasing.... Her small steps are small and perfect -- seed pearls. Big steps, when she wants to make them big, are huge. She can knock off pirouettes a la seconde as if she were hitting homers out of the park, four in a row. She is no actress, but in her dancing alone there are a thousand dramas. Kistler, since she broke her foot in 1983, has not been as strong as Nichols. Her great gift, unmatched by any other dancer today, is the grand impulse with which she weaves space into time. In the vision scene, as she charges through the lines of the nymphs, she seems to pull all the stage space behind her, like a mantle, braiding it into the musical line. Kistler is an actress, immensely detailed -- even, this season, too detailed -- and all her details work by suggestion. When, in her variation in the grand pas de deux pas de deux (French; “step for two”) Dance for two performers. A characteristic part of classical ballet, it includes an adagio, or slow dance, by the ballerina and her partner; solo variations by the male dancer and then the ballerina; and a coda, or , she raises her arms higher and higher, the image expands in your mind, telling you Aurora's future. She is not just raising her arms; she is raising flowers, raising her children, raising her bedroom curtains on a lifetime of sunny days. Nichols takes you inward, and you find a whole world. Kistler takes you outward, and you find a whole world.... The crucial question facing a company founded on the vision of a genius: what happens when that person dies? FEBRUARY 1992 DEATHS AND ENTRANCES MARTHA GRAHAM DANCE COMPANY CITY CENTER THEATER OCTOBER 8-20, 1991 REVIEWED BY GARY PARKS Some eulogies are better left unsung. Ronald Protas and Linda Hodes, the new artistic directors of the Martha Graham Dance Company, decided to open the troupe's first New York season since the great choreographer's death with the premiere of her unfinished work, The Eyes of the Goddess.... Though the premiere may have been conceived as a bow to Graham's memory, the gesture backfired. The Eyes of the Goddess is a bleak, clouded reverie in which nonsensical choreography is encumbered Encumbered A property owned by one party on which a second party reserves the right to make a valid claim, e.g., a bank's holding of a home mortgage encumbers property. by the gaudy costumes and props Graham became fond of in her later years. It is a relief to realize that the witty, self-knowing Maple Leaf Rag The "Maple Leaf Rag" (1897) is an early Ragtime composition for piano by Scott Joplin. It was one of Joplin's early works, and is one of the most famous of all Ragtime pieces. , and not this confused meditation on death, was actually Graham's last work.... In the cobbled-together [posthumous autobiography] Blood Memory, Graham (or her amanuensis AMANUENSIS. One who write another dictates. About the beginning of the sixth century,, the tabellions (q.v.) were known by this name. 1 Sav. Dr. Rom. Moy. Age, n. 16. ) would have us think that the Halston-to-Madonna years were her best. Does anyone truly believe this? An insert in the City Center program states, "We believe that live music is artistically preferable to taped accompaniment. Unfortunately, we cannot afford it." Can't afford it.? What are Protas and Hodes spending their money on? How can a major American dance company afford to appear in New York City without live music? Guest appearances by Misha and a gala hosted by Jackie O can't make up for neglecting to present Graham's work in the way it deserves.... Despite his own advancing age, Merce Cunningham continues to advance into new territory, as noted by Bill Deresiewicz, now the New York dance correspondent of the London newspaper The Financial Times. MAY 1996 WINDOWS 95 MERCE CUNNINGHAM DANCE COMPANY JOYCE THEATER FEBRUARY 6-11, 1996 REVIEWED BY BILL DERESIEWICZ Reality, in Merce Cunningham's conception, is a succession of unique, unrepeatable events. This gull wheeling, that cat leaping, those people walking in just that way, now. But the repetition of performance (the "same dance" again and again) dulls this truth. To reawaken Verb 1. reawaken - awaken once again awaken, wake up, waken, rouse, wake, arouse - cause to become awake or conscious; "He was roused by the drunken men in the street"; "Please wake me at 6 AM." it Cunningham stages the programs he calls Events, collages of new and existing material assembled differently for each occasion. Events, in other words Adv. 1. in other words - otherwise stated; "in other words, we are broke" put differently , are events: unrepeatable, unique.... The season was [Jenifer] Weaver's last with the company after seven years of increasingly astonishing virtuosity, and Cunningham sent her off with a valedictory solo that celebrated her balance, lightness, and stretch. The stage cleared, the sound-score fell silent, and suddenly it was just Weaver and her legs: a leg held high to the side brought ever so slowly down to the ankle, then back up past the knee with foot flexed, and finally pointed at the apex of a renewed extension. A chain of further immaculate extensions, and then the vision ended, never to be seen again. |
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